The present invention relates to an applicator for cleaning of pipe and hose.
The fast and advanced development in many technical areas, e.g. hydraulics, has entailed that systems within these areas have become more sensitive to pollutions, since they work under high pressure, small tolerances and components, whose functions are carefully calculated. Radically intensified demands are thereby put upon these systems concerning cleanness.
When a pipe or a hose is cut off, the release of metal or rubber particles, splinters, burrs, dust etc. being left inside the pipe or the hose is inevitable. These pollutions cause unnecessary wearing on the systems with great additional costs as a result, and must therefore be removed in an efficient way. For this purpose a method has been developed for inside mechanical cleaning of pipe or hose, wherein a rinse projectile made of polymer material is compressed and shot through the pipe or the hose by means of a pneumatic applicator. The elasticity of the material and the friction on the inside of the pipe or the hose in combination with the force of the compressed air give unsurpassed effective and quick cleaning. This method is applied in the system JETCLEANER, introduced by Eurocomp AB, Avesta, Sweden, which includes an applicator comprising a pressure chamber with a lid adjustable between open and closed positions, sealing the pressure chamber in the closed position, and a nozzle to be connected to the pipe or the hose, said nozzle being mounted to the lid and in the closed position thereof communicating with the pressure chamber to be connected to a compressed air source through a valve for propulsion of a rinse projectile inserted into the nozzle with the lid in the open position, the charging position, through the pipe or the hose by means of compressed air being supplied to the pressure chamber with the lid in the closed position, the firing position.
With JETCLEANER a documented effective inside cleaning of pipe and hose is achieved but the applicator used in the system by some users is regarded as less suitable from an ergonomical point of view. The insertion of the rinse projectile into the nozzle is ergonomically unfavorable since the lid pivotally journalled on the applicator must be turned manually to an open position after a spring loaded latching clasp keeping the lid in the closed position, having been manually actuated for unlocking the lid.
The purpose of the invention is to provide an applicator of the kind mentioned above, having a semi-automatic design and satisfying the demands for good ergonomics better than the prior art applicator mentioned above. For said purpose the applicator according to the invention is characterized in that a sealed plane interface is provided between the pressure chamber and the lid which is guided for displacement transversely of the axis of the nozzle between open and closed positions, and that the lid is connected to a valve controlled double-acting pneumatic cylinder for effecting said displacement.
In another respect, the known applicator is constructed in an inappropriate way from an ergonomical point of view: the applicator has a handle, directed downwards in the transverse direction of the axis of the nozzle, which is unfavorable considering the force to be exerted in order to hold the applicator with the nozzle applied against the end of the pipe or the hose when firing the xe2x80x98shotxe2x80x99, the rinse projectile under the effect of the released compressed air being forced through the pipe or the hose. This inconvenience is overcome according to the invention in that the handle in the preferred embodiment of the applicator according to the invention protrudes from the applicator on the side of the pressure chamber, opposite to the nozzle, substantially in the axial direction of the nozzle.
The invention also relates to an improved rinse projectile. In known embodiments the rinse projectile consists of a cylindrical body, punched out of a plate of elastic polyurethane foam, the projectile therefore having a porous structure on the envelope surface as well as on the end surfaces. The polyurethane foam consists of pieces of polyurethane foam with different density glued together, so that the rinse projectile has both harder and softer sections. The rinse projectile is compressed when it is inserted into the nozzle, and during its passage through the pipe or the hose it wipes off the inside thereof and absorbs occurring liquid like a sponge, but one drawback is that the rinse projectile may release polyurethane particles in the pipe or the hose. The improved rinse projectile according to the invention is characterized in that the cylindrical body of porous polymer is manufactured by molding and has a skin on the envelope surface of the body.